"Actually my mom is working tonight so we couldn't drive to downtown Portland," I texted Candela. I sat outside the garage with Charmander running around the driveway. He ran out to the street. I got up and yelled for his attention.

"Charmander! Get back here you might get run over!"

Charmander looked at me and scoffed continuing his carefree life. I looked both ways and ran to pick him up. Thank goodness that our street didn't have too many cars driving by. Charmander struggled to be free and nicked my arm with his claw.

"Ouch! Charmander I'm only looking out for your safety! Please don't!"

My iPhone dinged. I picked up my phone to read the text.

"Don't worry! I can come pick you up! Where do you live?" said the text. I text her back my address. "Thanks! I'll see you in an hour. :)"

One hour later. A motorcyclist parked right in front of my house. It was a beautiful ride with chrome and scarlet. The rider took of their helmet and it was Candela, complete with helmet hair.

"Hey Candela!" I waved from my step that I was sitting on while Charmander laid out in the sunny driveway. She came up into my garage. "I want you to meet my mom. Mom!" I fetched my mom to the garage. "Mom, this is Candela. She is one of the scientists from the Pokemon Institute."

"Hello nice to meet you," my mom shook hands with Candela.

"Same to you."

"Mom, Candela and I were wondering if she can take me to a park or someplace downtown to go find Pokemon."

"That sounds good. What time will you be back?"

"About 7. How is that?""

"Sounds good. Gabby did you pack water?"

"Yup!"

"I'll see you later."

"Bye mom!"

I put Charmander in his pokeball. Candela gave me one of the helmets. I hopped on the ride.

"We will be going to the Japanese garden. It seems like a pretty place," Candela looked at her phone and looked up. "Have you been there before?"

"Yeah! It's really pretty! Wait you haven't been there? Where are you from?" I asked her.

"I originate from New York. Portland and Seattle... You guys got it lucky. Get both the forest and the city? That's amazing."

"Yeah, but Portland's weird," I retorted.

"...you're right. I've seen some crazies from just traveling to the Institute." Candela hopped on and revved the engine. "Hold on."

We were out of the neighborhood in what it seems to be in one second. We were on the freeway in five minutes when it should take fifteen. We zoomed by traffic.

"OH MY GOSH CANDELA WE ARE GOING TO GET A TICKET YOU ARE SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF MEEEEE!" I screamed. The rush hour traffic was closing in on us. She was slowing down, but not it was not slow enough. I continued to scream as she weaved through the traffic.

We made it to the garden. I couldn't stand on the ground so I fell.

"That was great!" Candela exclaimed. She looked at me and paused. "Hey, um..."

It took me fifteen minutes to calm down.

"Jeez you were screaming in my ear the whole time," Candela said to me right after we paid our admission. We headed straight for the Tea garden.

"I'm surprised that we didn't get a ticket," I shuddered.

"Whaaaat?! I was going over five more miles above the speed limit! I think you aren't used to the motorcycles."

Nope. Not believing that.

There was a rustle in the bushes. A tan Pokemon came out.

"Look a Sandshrew! Let's go!" Candela shouted. I reached for my Charmander, but Candela stopped me. "What are you doing? You don't need your Pokemon. You can just throw the ball."

"But some trainer told me to weaken the Pokemon before you catch it," I stated. But Candela shook her head.

"I bet it's someone from Blanche's team. She always tells them that but I don't think you have to. I even do it all the time and it's the same for both of us."

I threw the ball and it bounced off the Sandshrew's head. The ball opened and sucked it in.

"Great throw sweetie!" Candela smiled and gave me a side hug. The pokeball wobbled until the ball flashed.

I registered the Pokemon into my phone Pokedex.

"Sandshrew, the mouse Pokemon," the phone chimed. I stored the pokeball into my bag. We headed for a bench to sit on. I took out my water bottle and chugged.

"It's such a hot summer," I grumbled. "But I like the sun."

"I hear it's always rainy though," Candela responded. I nodded.

"That's the rest of the year," I smiled. "So tell me about you."

"Aw man! Where do you want me to start?" Candela scratched her head. I thought and shrugged to myself.

"How did you meet Professor Willow?"

"Well. Ah..." She started uneasy. "When all three of us started college we had our different careers we wanted to take. But we had to take certain science classes to get credit. Spark took the easy route. Blanche went to take the hardest class... I followed her." Candela started to chuckle. I stared at her waiting for her to explain herself. "But that isn't the point. The science classes had posters that had Professor Willow talking about the newly discovered Pokemon. Blanche was interested to know what the Pokemon were so she went. On TV I heard that these Pokemon were actually animals with superpowers so I had to go check them myself! Spark came along for the ride."

"Is this boy a slacker or?" I questioned Candela. She laughed.

"No he's not. He has his own specialty, but no one really sees it and they make fun of him for it," she cracked her knuckles. I scooted away an inch. "All three of us met when we were six so we have been good friends. Anyway back to the story, after listening to Professor Willow's talk Blanche went up to go ask questions; her being her usual self. Spark and I went with her. After talking for awhile Professor Willow just stared at us and said that we had potential. We had the potential to be a part of his research team. And there on out we became these Pokemon researchers."

BOOM.

In a far off distance, a billowing smoke rose from downtown. Both of us got up from the bench. We both looked at each other.

"What kind of Pokemon would that be?" I asked. Candela smirked.

"We'll just find out sweetie! Let's get on the motorcycle!"

"Oh... Oh hell no," I squirmed but insisted to follow. Candela's phone began to ring. Before we hopped on, Candela answered it.

"Hey Blanche what's up?" Candela grinned.

"Don't give me that Candela!" It definitely sounded like Blanche. Blanche took a deep sigh. "Candela, you can't be this carefree! There's a group at Pioneer Square that is terrorizing the people with... Pokemon! We got to do something about it!"

"So... Are you coming along with Spark?" Candela toned down.

"Yes! But he's going to need a bit of convincing to peel away from the computer watching One-Punch Man."

"Come on guys seriously?! I'm getting to the good part!" Spark yelled in the background. "...ugh fine!"

"Alright. Gabby and I will see you there," Candela hung up and we left.

The streets were already empty once we arrived. Cars were turned over and the pavement was cracked.

"Who would do this?" I asked. Candela shrugged.

"We gotta find out sooner or later," she stated and kept moving forward.

Why am I here? Seeing all the damages already taken here. I can't do this. My mom would also freak out if she found out that I was in this mess.

"Uh, Candela?" I had to stop her. She turned around with a concerned look.

"Yes honey?"

"Do you think our Pokemon are stronger enough to handle whoever we are going to face?"

"Of course! Especially when Blanche and Spark get here we got it taken care of," Candela kept walking.

We finally get to Pioneer Courthouse Square. The half circle of steps where people say is now cracked. Light poles were fallen over. The Nordstrom building now had a huge gaping hole.

"Candela, I-I don't think-"

"Wh-why are you like this?" Candela turned around again this time with slight annoyance. "Come on Gabby! We got to get to the bottom of this. Plus who knows what kind of Pokemon they are using! ...Gabby we are Team Valor. We are the strongest and the bravest. We. Can."

"Who are you?!" Someone down in the far end of the opening appeared.

"The question is, who are you?!" Candela's voice rose with anger. The mysterious person laughed.

"I? It's more like we. We are Team Rocket," as the person spoke, a group of people followed . In the sun they all wore the same black uniform. Three of them threw their pokeballs and out came their own Pokemon."

I reached for Chamander but Candela stopped me.

"No, it's too dangerous for Charmander to come out. He has no experience to be fighting these kind of Pokemon."

I pull out my phone to record the Pokemon.

"Onyx, the rock snake Pokemon.

Gengar, the shadow Pokemon.

Poliwrath, the tadpole Pokemon."

Wow, I have to say.

Candela didn't say a word but she threw out her three Pokemon.

"Magmar, Arcanine, and Ninetales let's go!"

I immediately recorded them in my phone.

Team Rocket laughed even more.

"Fire type Pokemon? You might be at a disadvantage here! Poliwrath use surf!"

Water flooded the area. I lose balance and washed off on the cracked steps to watch. Every Pokemon washed off into different directions. Candela's three Pokemon suffered greatly.

"You dingus!" Cried one of the members. "Yeah, you might have injured her Pokemon but you hurt my Onyx too!"

"Okay! All of you! Use flamethrower to create a wall now!" Candela shouted. The Pokemon followed her command. Out of their mouths, like dragons, breathed fire creating a wall of flame between her team and the opponent's team.

"Onyx! Tail whip!"

The giant sized rock monster whipped its tail and the fire decreased in size. Candela clicked her tongue in frustration.

"Magmar use sunny day!" Magmar honked and it seemed like the few clouds in the sky disappeared. It began to get even hotter than it was before.

"Arcanine! Double team!" Candela waved. The large fire dog created many clones of itself.

"Onyx, rock slide!" Onyx used the rubble of the destruction to take out half of the Arcanine clones.

"Ninetales, confuse ray!" The nine tailed fox leaped into the air avoiding the attack and sent a ray. Two of the opponents began to wobble on their feet, but Poliwrath was able to dodge.

"Poliwrath, again! Surf!"

Crap I had to climb up to higher ground for this... Instead I got swept by my feet again. All the Arcanine clones disappeared and the wall of fire between the two teams disappeared. Magmar tried to stand up, but it fell on its face.

"Magmar come back!" Candela's pokeball shot an energy beam and took the fire duck into its safety. "Where's Blanche and Spark?!"

"Gengar! I want you to use destiny bond!" The shadow thing's smirk grew bigger. "Now shadow ball!" Gengar's smirk turned upside down when it couldn't even face the direction it wants to go. It injured itself in its confusion!

"Now Arcanine! Finish that Gengar with flamethrower!" A burst of fire came upon the shadow and got it. The Gengar fell flat... And so did Arcanine.

"What!?" I shouted. "What happened?!"

"Destiny bond! Shit!" Candela swore. Her face was red with determination. She gripped her pokeball and took back Arcanine. "If the user gets knocked out in one hit, the attacker goes down with it!"

"Do you have more Pokemon on you lady?" The main ringleader. I stared at her pokeball holster and she only had three Pokemon with her. I heard that the limit was six. The opponents threw more Pokemon outnumbering Ninetales.

"Candela! We have to back out!"

She whipped her head toward my direction. But before she could say a word, more Pokemon flashed right next to Ninetales. Blanche and Spark ran right next to Candela.

"Sorry we took so long," Spark wheezed. "Traffic was a bitch."

"Candela! What happened to the rest of your Pokemon?!" Blanche exclaimed and pointed at Candela's holster.

"I... Forgot them in the apartment," Candela mumbled. Blanche whacked her on the head.

"That's no excuse!"

"Onyx! Rock slide!" Screamed one of the members. The Onyx was still trying to balance itself so it hurt itself in its confusion and debris flew everywhere.

"Okay all of you!" Spark shouted. "Attack with your all!"

"Same with you all!" Blanche commanded.

It was the most fiercest battle I've seen. The movies didn't compare. Commands, flashes, debris, and heat were all over the place. It seemed like Blanche had a collection of water and ice typed Pokemon. Spark... To accessorize with his name he got electric types. I tried to register all the Pokemon in the field, but most of them kept falling left to right. The rest of the remaining were on our side.

"You will not see the end of us!" Shouted the other group and they ran away. We were all quiet until Spark broke the silence.

"Let's grab some Micky D's and head to the lab to heal up our Pokemon shall we?"

We were all still quiet but we continued on.